Saturday, 24 June 2017

The Consequences Of Prohibition

I have been rather quiet on the blogging front for a number of months due to various 'issues' going on in my personal life. However, that does not mean that I have not been reading other people's blogs. A number of those blogs have got me thinking about the consequences of the 'Prohibition Era' that we seem to be descending ever deeper into due to the tax-sponging so-called Public Health Charities and bodies.

For example, today I read a blog by Chris Snowdon (which you can find here) which discussed the recent alarmist (and totally false claims) by various 'alcohol-concern' bodies that alcohol consumption in Scotland has been steadily rising. As is usual, Chris does an excellent job in debunking such claims using the official facts and figures against these people.

But what started my line of thought was the following quote that Chris had picked up on

Even the Public Health Minister admits that drinkers are being forced from the pubs to drinking in the home. But her suggestion of minimum pricing will NOT deter 'problem' drinkers. If you have an alcohol problem, you will literally pay ANY price to get your booze. All Minimum Pricing will do is punish the moderate drinker.

Meanwhile, Mudgie celebrated his 58th Birthday (Happy Birthday Mudgie), by reflecting on how the pub trade/business has changed over the 40 years since he first started frequenting his local (and not-so-local) hostelries which you can read here.

What struck me from Mudgie's blog was his assertion that "back in the 70's, the total amount of beer sold in British pubs was almost three times
as much as today. Since then, huge numbers of pubs have closed, many
have gone over so much to food that they offer little welcome to
drinkers, and many of those that remain are so quiet for much of the
time that it’s like intruding on private grief".

Lastly, another blog I read regularly which has been talking along the themes of Prohibition and how it is possible to get around it and still have an enjoyable time is the blog of Frank Davis. His latest entry can be found here. However, Frank has been discussing his 'virtual bar' over the last couple of entries in his blog which I would recommend reading.

What all of these blogs have in common is that they reinforce 'why' the Prohibition Era I mention above is causing all manner of consequences and kick-backs that the Prohibitionists just never saw coming, and which they still refuse to acknowledge as fact.

It is a common fact that alcohol consumption has been on a downward spiral for the last couple of decades, despite what you may read from the scaremongering click-bait published in the MSM and many so-called scientific publications. It is a fact borne out from the number of pubs that have closed down since the 1970's, and then accelerated since the 2007 introduction of the smoking ban. In fact, it is often said that a growing number of the current generation of youngsters (18-24 age bracket) are alcohol abstinent. I have three 'kids' of 26, 24 and 20 years old and TWO out of the three never touch a drop of alcohol. They are just not interested in it, and they are far from rare in that age-group. It then follows that if that generation is not interested in drinking alcohol, then a pub is not somewhere that is going to interest them.

When I grew up in the 60's/70's, most of us couldn't wait to get our arses in the pub (often underage) and get shit-faced every day of the week that our meagre money allowed. That was still the trend in the 80's.

If the young are not injterested in visiting pubs, then it follows that the pub trade is going to suffer because the next generation are not moving in to make up for the older generation as it slowly dies off.

Another reason for the declining pub trade (as alluded to above) has to be the smoking ban. The Smoking Ban accelerated the closures of wet-led pubs when it was introduced in 2007. Regardless of what any Public Health official will try to spin to you, it cannot be down to pure coincidence that pub closures accelerated once the smoking ban was introduced.

But where did all those drinkers go ?

Well, for one, the smokers stop going to the pub once the weather turns foul. Who wants to be stood out in the cold and the rain whenever you fancy a cigarette ? This is especially true of the older generation who are much more susceptible to illness caused by having to stand out in the cold. As a result, many smokers stopped going to the pub, preferring instead to buy cheaper booze from the supermarket and being able to consume it in the warmth and comfort of their own homes whilst still being able to enjoy a cigarette in complete comfort. Indeed, this is where Frank Davis' latest blog musings begin to make sense because due to the internet it is very easy to organise a Google Hangout where you chat to all your friends online whilst all of you are enjoying your booze, fags, vapes etc just as if you were bin an actual pub.

Furthermore, because you are drinking your booze, and smoking your cigarettes, or vaping, at home then none of the so-called Public Health can have any control on how much you consume. In a pub, the landlord can refuse to serve anyone who has obviously had too much booze, but such controls do not exist in the home. Therefore, by pushing the drinkers (by price), the smokers (by legislation) or the Vapers (through ignorance) out of the pubs, Public Health are actually potentially creating the very health 'problem' they claim to be trying to stop.

I do not smoke anymore. I switched from smoking to vaping just over 6 years ago, but I do remember the annoyance I felt at the introduction of the smoking ban in 2007. However, even as a Vaper I find that many pubs do not welcome me and force me to vape outside with the smokers, despite vaping NOT being illegal in enclosed public spaces. As it happens, my local pub IS vaper-friendly. However, I found myself visiting that local pub less and less as time went on because one could always find at least one (usually the gobbiest person in the pub) who would whinge and moan about my vaping and displaying their complete and utter ignorance about how dangerous ecigarettes are (hint: There are no known issues with vaping and it is said to be at LEAST 95% safer than smoking).

As it currently stands, the last time I actually visited a pub for a drink was over 8 months ago. I simply find it far easier to sit at home, drink what I want when I want it, and vaping to my heart's content whilst chatting to friends online. It is effectively Frank Davis' 'Virtual Pub', and more and more of us are doing it.

So it is a big 'Fuck You' to Public Health. You are not beating us into submission, you are merely driving us underground, just like you have done with the drug 'problem'. We are not going away, we are just finding more inventive ways to piss in your face and exercising our right to live our lives how we want, the way we want.

About Me

I was born in Wales way back in the year of 1963. I am bilingual - fluent in both Welsh and English - but can also lay claim to having some limited conversational abilities in French, Dutch and German.
My favourite sport is Rugby Union, which I played for more than 30 years until forced to retire due to injury. Consequently, I am a bit bigger than your average guy in that I am 6 foot tall and currently weigh 170lbs.
I am an accomplished musician having played in several brass bands and orchestras, therefore I can play a multitude of musical instruments.